| Gladiator Masterminds Dragon Annihilation | | Print | |
| Saturday, 29 August 2009 22:26 | |||
 Wendell Sailor of the Dragons is tackled. This weeks cross-sport sponsorship deal with the V-8 Supercars is another master stroke from the master of self-promotion and it now remains to be seen whether the likes of Roy Asotasi will be able to find what it takes to drive around Bathurst at speed or whether Mark Skaife will be able to hold the middle of the rucks against the opposition next year. I don’t really know what it all means but no doubt we’ll find out soon enough. Not sure if the cross-sponsorship means cross-participation but there’ll be more than the odd remark passed about who would look good in what car or what number jersey I’m sure. It’ll all be in fun anyway and it is a positive step to retaining the ‘black’ bank balance for the club in the next season or two. For now though, with this season all but over, the Rabbitohs took on the Illawarra’s finest in the form of the merged St George Dapto Dragons in the last home game of the season and in front of what could only be described as a partisan opposition crowd. I’m afraid I couldn’t see anything but a Rabbitohs victory to hand the Bulldogs the Minor Premiership in this one and to continue the fantasy scenario, a throw-off loss against Cronulla next week would ensure that the despised enemy from Bondi end up with a much deserved wooden spoon for 2009. Oh, how I hoped for that scenario! The crowd for this game saw the red and white population vastly outnumber the homeside’s red and green and that is a sad indictment on the often apathetic attitude of the South Sydney following Sydneysiders. Somewhere amongst them all was the Burrow though and looking at the tv screen, you wouldn’t have known they were there unless you were able to identify familiar faces in the crowd as I was fortunately able to do. It was rather surprising to see all the initial play in the game going the Rabbitohs way but then again, maybe not so surprising as Souths now had nothing to play for and therefore had nothing to lose. The big question now was going to be though, could they actually play to their potential and score the tries they are capable of or play an insipid brand of football as a follow on to the past two weeks poor performances. It only took 5 minutes for the Rabbitohs to throw the ball around for the first try to be registered. They tore the Dragons apart right through the centre of the ruck and then threw dummy after dummy until John Sutton found himself in the right place at the right time to work his way over the line to open the scoring. Only fourteen minutes later the Rabbitohs had the Dragons on the rack when a short Sutto pass found Colin Best, who stepped his way to the tryline for the second try and a 12 lead. At this stage you really had to ask yourself why the team couldn’t play like this every week and with a starting price sitting at $6 for the win, you would be patting yourself on the back if you were smart enough to have backed the Bunnies to win. Or so you thought! Unfortunately, it didn’t take too long for the Dragons to hit back and they registered their first try after 22 minutes to get the score back to 12 points to 6. By rights the Dragons should probably have been leading the makeshift Bunnies by this stage after having two tries disallowed and then bombing another but as they say in the Aussie classics, it was stiff cheddar as the Rabbitohs ran in yet another one through Ben Lowe to race away to an 18 to 6 lead, with all tries being converted by Chris Sandow. Yeah, if you took that 6 bucks it was definitely looking good wasn’t it? At this point all the Souths players were playing well above themselves and doing their supporters proud, though is was left to be seen whether the outstanding effort would continue. At 32 minutes Issac Luke was replaced by Under 20's skipper and First Grade debutant Jason Clark and as has been the case in so many games this year, I hoped this wouldn’t have a downward affect on the way the team was functioning. The Souths attack continued to endure however but the Dragons line couldn’t be breached this time around. On the stroke of half time Chris Sandow potted a field goal and as someone that knows the history of first half field goals, I hoped that the trend wouldn’t continue and the Rabbitohs would come away as victors on this occasion. It definitely wasn’t a good omen though. 19 points to 6 at the break and could the team lift for a big second half effort this time around. I was hoping the omen bets would work for me tonight however, so I had a Wentworth Park exacta with Irinka Sandow and Boss Number One coupled together that looked pretty good. Here’s hoping for two positive results. As the second half progressed it was hard to believe that this is the same South Sydney side that had surrendered so meekly in so many games this season. The team is playing confidently and the first-up contact has been strong all night, which is a far cry from many occasions in previous weeks that have seen the side go under without a whimper. I wonder if its because Russell is perched up the western stand and is issuing his famous orders with the down-turned thumb once more and the players are actually taking some notice. He certainly looked vociferous at times. Maybe the omens were going to work for us tonight as Jamie Simpson strolled over the line after breaking a feeble tackle to increase the lead to 23 points to 6 after 58 minutes and before the formation could be set again, Nathan Merritt burst through the centre to amble over adjacent to the posts to increase the score to 29 to 6. Someone pinch me please! This team has cost me so much money this year by backing them not only to win and being beaten but the 13plus and 19 plus margins I had backed them at many times was going to eventuate this time without a cent of my money riding on them. Sutto’s second try made it 35 points to 6 and and an embarrassing loss to the Dragons was now a reality and from a Rabbitoh perspective it couldn’t have happened to a better team, unless it’s the Roosters! Line up boys!!! Eddy Pettybourne is the next to cross for a four pointer after a magnificent stepping run from Issac Luke and the Rabbitohs hit 40. Oh the pain the Dragons must be feeling and it felt good to be the ones inflicting the defeat. What a night to be a Rabbitoh!!! You just had to feel sorry for them, didn’t you? The new players in the squad were playing so far above themselves they deserved to figure in a win like this one. Chris McQueen, Junior Vaivai, Jason Clark, Dave Tyrell etc all performed with distinction and one can only wonder what may have been in 2009 if the coach had these players in the team at an earlier stage of the season instead of persisting with a number of players that obviously weren’t performing to their optimum potential. Food for thought for next year perhaps. The final result of 41 points to 6 went down in the history books as the Rabbitohs biggest ever win against the Dragons in over 80 years of football. Every player and supporter can feel justifiably proud of being a part of this momentous occasion and as far as the papers are concerned it will be seen as an upset victory I’m sure. For those of us long term Rabbitoh supporters I’d prefer to call it retribution. Long awaited retribution! Oh yeah, that exacta came unstuck when Irinka Sandow unluckily missed a place. Damn omens got me again, so I had to settle for the major cleanup on Denman at the races earlier in the day as my source of monetary gain. This week it’s the last game of the season against Cronulla at Shark Park with the prelude at the Annual Rabs in the Shire Bash at Keiren Hennesseys house. What chance we get beaten to ensure the Roosters get the spoon?, Nah, it couldn’t happen, could it? I also hope I spelt ANNIHILATION correctly. If not, could you help me out Dragon supporters? Go the Rabbitohs!!!
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